The Human Equation, Revisited

Recently a colleague, Dr. Michael Ensley of the Executive Assessment Institute, and I were having a conversation about something I heard Dr. Jack Phillips of the ROI Institute share in Dallas, Tx (I know a lot of folks in institutions). Jack had commented on research that is bringing to light some concerns about assumptions we have made about employee engagement surveys. He shared with a group of talent and operations leaders the prolific number of articles about the efficacy of employee engagement surveys. Now we can all debate these studies, we can even debate the construction of the assessments and of course we can begin to look at the validity and reliability of some pretty well known, and some other pretty homemade assessments claiming to measure employee attitude, perceptions, or engagement. Michael shared Dr. Jeffrey Pfeffer's The Human Equation: Building Profits by Putting People First.

I had read it in graduate school circa 1998, and so much of it had become integral in my OD and Learning consultancy to the degree that I did not think of about it. Like all good classics such as On Becoming a Leader (Warren Bennis) or Abilene Paradox (Jerry Harvey) or a new classic Five Dysfunctions of a Team (Patrick Lencioni), they deserve to be re-read every five years or so. It is good for the soul, but also good for your clients; it consequently you. 

Pfeffer states in his book, based on scholarly research and personal consulting experience, that firms would be better off treating employees like a most valued research as opposed to an inconvenience that "has to be managed" in order to be profitable. In 2009, I wrote an article for the Charlotte Business Journal entitled Are Employees Really Our Greatest Asset based on some research with very well known firms in Charlotte, NC, Raleigh, NC and Greenville, SC. Pfeffer, from a more scholarly perspective and me from reviewing many of my client's recent employee-impacting actions both question how and if employers are concerned with engaging employees. Are they about engagement or more concerned about controlling employees. I an remember a CEO questioning me later about me questioning his commitment to "employees are my greatest asset" and being quite angry when I reminded him that he had laid off 10% of his workforce 3 weeks prior to quarterly stock call only to re-hire 90% of this "most valued asset" back 2 months later and also give himself a raise at the same board meeting.

This issue still is important. As recently as March 2017, I see health systems making similar decisions to control or engage in the way they work with the staffs and physicians. One even "outsourced its entire facilities maintenance crew to save approximately 3% in employee cost - do you think they are engaged in cleaning patients' rooms? Engagement surveys are sometimes used as evidence that engagement is occurring, but show that firms are often just going through the motions. Whether it is physicians, housekeeping employees, bank tellers, electricians, or teachers, we know if we are engaging our people, before the first survey is complete.

Are you addressing employee engagement - not climate, not satisfaction, not happiness. Take a look at the seven demensions below. Consider these seven dimensions that Pfeffer addressed as the human part of the profitability equation. Some of the terms have been updated by new folks selling newer books and a new nomenclature such as accountability, transparency, resilience, self-directed, and talent selection may have replaced his terms from the late 1990's. It is still good stuff.

 Key to Increasing Profitability Through Humans

 1. Employment security;

2. Selective hiring of new personnel;

3. Self-managed teams and decentralization of decision making as the basic principles of organization design;

4. Comparatively high compensation contingent on organizational performance;

5. Extensive training;

6. Reduced status distinctions and barriers, including dress, language, office arrangements, and wage differences across levels; and

7. Extensive sharing of financial and performance information throughout the organization

Pick up a copy of The Human Equation. If you don’t have a copy, buy one ( or borrow it from some one who was smart enough to sell their copy on eBay). I hope you will take the time to reflect on Control vs Engage, Inconvenience vs Asset (not the ones you depreciate, but appreciate).

 You want to make it real and make an Impact?

Create a Table with these seven dimensions on the far left-most column, one dimension in each row of the table. Across the top of the table in separate columns, enter headers using the name of your most senior executive all the way to your first line supervisors (or for simplicity, do this for you executive team or any team of leaders for which you have authority).

On a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being “are you kidding me, they stink at this” to 10 representing “he/she rocks! and could not be better” rate leaders ability in the seven dimensions. You might be surprise to see if those, uhm… what do you call them… pains in the backside…get in the way when you are working…cant do your job because of them… oh, yeah, they are called “employees.” You might see if you are really treating them as your greatest asset worthy of investment or just controlling them and hoping you are profitable.

 I’d love your thoughts and feedback…Well, I’d like it… and only if it is really good. (at least 9 on scale of 10).

 Richard Ray, Workforce Systems Design, inc.

www.WorkforceSD.com

@DrWorkorce